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Auteur

Type

Document de travail / Working paper

Nombre de pages du document

40

Résumé en anglais

A rising share of renewables in the energy mix push
es up the average price of energy - and so does a carbon tax. However the former bolsters the accumulation of capital whereas the latter, if fully recycled, does not. Thus, in general equilibrium, the effects on growth and
intertemporal welfare of these two environmental po
licies differ. The present article assesses and compares these effects. It relies on a computable general equilibrium model with
overlapping generations, an energy module and a pub
lic finance module. The main result is that an increasing share of renewables in the energy mix and a fully recycled carbon tax have
opposite (though limited) impacts on activity and i
ndividuals’ intertemporal welfare in the long run. The recycling of a carbon tax fosters consumption and labour supply, and thus
growth and welfare, whereas an increasing share of
renewables does not. Results also suggest that a higher share of renewables and a recycled carbon tax trigger intergenerational
redistributive effects, with the former being relat
ively detrimental for young generations and the latter being pro-youth. The policy implication is that a social planner seeking to modify the
structure of the energy mix while achieving some ne
utrality as concerns the GDP and triggering some proyouth intergenerational equity,
could usefully contemplate the joint implementation of higher quantitative targets for the future development of renewables and a carbon tax fully recycled through lower proportional taxes.